Bloodlimit
by Smouse
Summary: A story about Iruka. And other things. Please read the read me chapter for more info warnings.
1. Chapter 1

**Please read this before you start reading ****Blood-limit!**

This is a story about three things/"plots", or what ever you want to call it.

**First**, and perhaps mostly, **it's a story about Iruka**. I like Iruka as a character, and yes, he might be a bit more kick-ass than what's considered "canon". I don't give a fuck.

**Secondly**, it's going to become **IruKaka/KakaIru** (however you want to see it) at the end. Because I _like_ that pairing. It's not going to become the focus of the fic, however, it will be _there_.

**Thirdly**, the story's going to follow an **OC** of mine. She's not really important, but the story's going to "follow" her, and a lot of the story's going to happen because of her. I always get wary when stories got OC in them, so if you don't like them, you have been warned.

This story's going to take place in the "future", something like 2-3 years after the time-skip. I'll try and be as up-to-date on how the original story goes, because I'd like for this story to be possible in it. Safe to say it won't work if key-characters die, and I won't bend-over-backwards to try and please it either. There won't be any Akatsuki and/or Orochimaru problems in it. I probably won't even mention them. If you want them to be dead, beamed up in to space, in hiding or w/e it's up to you to decide, they won't appear in the story.

Some other things that might be good for you to know;

The Naruto-world is some sort of Alternative Universe to or own.

The story will contain the use of 3 different languages; English, Swedish and Japanese. The OC girl in it will be from Sweden so she's going to speak Swedish and English, while using Japanese words when she tries to "talk" whit others (usually, there are exceptions).

"Japanese" is going to be the language that they use in the land of fire, and the other shinobi countries for that matter.

'…' indicates talking, ex;

'I've already told you two what to do…'

Normal talking like that means it's in "Japanese", but if it's written like this;

'_Oh, what a cute puppy!_'

(and it's my OC speaking) it's in "English". Swedish will be written in the same way, it will also be the only language with a translation immediately after it, in the (…) space;

'_Herre jävlar__! (Holy fuck!)_'.

There might be times/chapters when it's not like that, but I'll explain how to read the different "languages" then.

Any Japanese words used will be listed, with translations, in the beginning or end of the chapter.

I have no Beta-reader, and I don't speak Japanese (I know, like, 15 words or something…). Just so you know. Tell me about any mistakes and I'll try and fix it.

Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine, okay? This is FAN-FICTION after all…


	2. Chapter 2

**Blood-limit.**

Chapter 1 (& 2) "A Stranger at the Gate"

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Step up to the challenge, let the sun shine through

the only thing I'm searching for, the answer is you.

-----

'Man this is boring.' Kotetsu said with a sigh.

Izumo shrugged, 'Yeah, well, guarding the gate beats guarding the prison. All things considered, boring's fine with me.'

'It's an attitude like that that's kept away any chance you've ever had at going Jounin.' Kotetsu muttered.

'Don't I know it.' Izumo said with a grin. 'What's your excuse, wonder boy?'

Kotetsu sent him an annoyed glair.

'Come on, with all the overtime and extra work that's always popping up, can't you just relax and enjoy a moment of peace when it's offered to you? Look at it as paid vacation – badly paid vacation, but still…' Izumo said jokingly.

'Oh, har, har, har…' Kotetsu muttered. 'Look, I just want some action in my life, I can't stand boredom.'

'I'll ask Hokage-sama to send you on a solo mission to sound.' Izumo said with a mock-straight face.

'I said "action", not "mortal peril"! I hate the dead period of the day, if only the midday-buzz would – ' Kotetsu never finished his sentence.

The sound of _something_ working its way out of the forest that surrounded Konohagakure – and by the sound of it, was heading for the gate or at lest the road out side of it – snapped the two Chuunins to attention.

'The hell?!' Kotetsu hissed, all his senses working overtime trying to track down the source of the disturbance. 'What the fuck is it?'

No animal would make so much noise unless there was something seriously wrong with it. Civilians and friendly shinobi alike had enough common sense, not to mention courtesy, to arrive through the main gate, using the main _road_. For someone to un-announced pop-up outside a shinobi village was idiotic and bordering on suicidal, if not a direct declaration of war.

'I don't know.' Izumo gritted out, trying to focus his chakra and scanning the aria.

'What? How can _you_ not know?'

'Don't lash out on me just because you're scared!' Izumo snapped back. 'There's nothing bigger than squirrels for miles around! That thing – whatever it is – does not possess any chakra!'

'How can that be?' Kotetsu asked. 'It's hardly a stone rolling down a hill! All living things contain chakra!'

'Yeah? Well you can tell it that when it gets here.' Izumo bit out.

There was a tense silence between them. The noise was closer now. The Chuunins estimated that 'it' would come in to view any minute now.

'You know… Those stories…' Kotetsu said. 'That our mothers used to tell us… about the forest being haunted by the ghost of children who got lost in it…'

'Yeah?'

'Those _were_ just stories, right?'

'I think,' Izumo answered. 'We might be about to find out for ourselves.'

'I _knew_ you'd say that…'

And out of the forest, pressing it's way through the thick bushes, and stumbling out on to the road in front of the gate… was a little girl. Of course she wasn't really that little, if they'd had to guess, Izumo and Kotetsu would probably say she looked between 17 to 20 years old. But at the moment they were so surprised that their jaws were practically dangling just above the ground. Kotetsu was the first one to pull himself together.

'This has to be the most anti-climatic moment of my life.'

'It doesn't appear hostile – you think we should investigate or contact the Hokage at once?'

'Huh?' Kotetsu said. 'The Hokage? Are you mad?! She'd skin us alive if we disturbed her over something this trivial!'

Izumo frowned. 'Maybe if it's trivial – but what if it's not?'

'Oh man,' Kotetsu sighed running his fingers through his hair in an exacerbated manner. 'You think _that's_ –' he waved a hand in the direction of the young woman who was sitting on the road with a bit of a dazed expression on her face, looking at the sun in the sky like she didn't know what it was '- something dangerous?'

'The concept of "underneath the underneath" is completely lost on you, isn't it?'

'_What_ underneath? She's just some woman who doesn't even possess Chakra! I mean _look_ at her!'

In truth she was a pity full sight to behold. She was dirty, her hair was a mess with twigs tangled into it to make matters worse. Numerous small cuts could be seen on her from thorns and other sharp objects. She sat shivering in the soft breeze, looking frozen, her lips almost blue in colour. The only thing she seemed to wear was a light robe-dress looking material that appeared to be several seizes too big. And it looked like it was in an even sorrier state than its current owner. From the way her eyes seemed to drift around, yet never appeared to focus, she was half-blind too.

'…' Izumo couldn't really understand why the girl seemed to unsettle him so much. '… It can be a Genjutsu.'

'Without Chakra?' Kotetsu almost mock-asked.

'If it _is_ Genjutsu, you moron, it is making you believe there's a girl with no Chakra. If so we really should contact the Hokage.'

'All right, riddle me this, genius, if we're trapped in a Genjutsu – how are we supposed to contact Godaime? But we both know that's a stupid question because we both know how to settle this.'

At the same time they both formed the proper seal and muttered 'Kai'.

Nothing happened. Kotetsu raised an eyebrow and gave Izumo a Look.

'…'

'Oh, all right.' Izumo sighed. 'You win. You're right, I'm wrong, yada, yada, yada – all that crap – What? You want my first born too?'

'Naw,' Kotetsu said with a grin. 'It's fine,'

Izumo gave a tired sigh. 'Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you.'

'My charming good looks?' Kotetsu said with a grin.

Izumo snorted and then gave a short laugh. 'Hardly. Although it'd be nice if you could voice your thoughts on what you think or next plan of action should be.'

'"Plan of action"? About what?'

'The _girl_ you retard. Even if she is harmless and not part of some trap, don't you think we should investigate or at least report her or something?'

'Asshole.' Kotetsu muttered and then said; 'She's just some civilian, why do you make such a fuss over her? You know that Hokage-sama's going to send us back to the academy or something if we bother her with something like that!'

'…' Izumo gave his friend a look like he thought he was unusually dens today, witch happened too be true. 'And the fact that there _are_ living beings – people! – out there who doesn't have any Chakra isn't the kind of information you want to bring fourth?'

Kotetsu looked slightly troubled.

'Not to mention the security risk! We couldn't sense her – witch makes me wonder how she'd look in the Byakuga – she's more or less un-detectable! Imagine _that_ in the hands of an enemy!'

Kotetsu frowned. 'Look, I'm not stupid. I know you got some really good points there, but I still don't know why you're so bent out of shape over some girl. She seams nothing but harmless too me. And if it wasn't for the fact that we're on the brink of war and the entire village is barely managing it as it is, I probably wouldn't argue with you. But as things are now, the last thing we need is more work! But I'll offer you an compromise; since or duty is to _guard the gate_ - if she comes here we'll investigate her further and if she go her own merry way we'll just put her in or report.'

'And let chance decide, huh?' Izumo said with a sigh. 'All right, sounds fair to me. Besides, I know you're not stupid, as for that girl… I don't really know why she unsettles me so much, or rather, it's not really her, but it's as if she's surrounded in a foul smell or something…' Izumo scratched his neck. 'It's hard to explain, but it makes the hairs on my neck stand on edge, and I don't like it.'

'…' Kotetsu refrained from saying anything.

Kotetsu and Izumo had known each other for what felt like forever. They grew up together, they graduated together and they worked together. Some people said that they did _everything_ together, though most of the time it was said as a joke... And even if Kotetsu and Izumo sometimes acted like an old married couple the fact remained that while they by themselves ranked only as Chuunin, together they rose to a rank way beyond Jounin easily. That was why they often got to do Jounin-class work or, as they preferred to call it, "work that need Jounin-like skills but they can't waste an actual Jounin on it".

'Oi, I think she's spotted us.' Izumo said as the woman for the first time looked at their direction.

'The gate more likely.' Kotetsu said looking at the woman's dazed expression.

Izumo snorted. 'Now who's a smart ass?'

The young woman slowly got up on her legs again. Although "got up" was a rather graceful way to describe it, it looked more like a newborn foal trying to get up on its legs for the first time. At one point she almost stumbled of the road and into the forest on the other side.

Once she finely managed to wobble her way up to the great entrance she stopped and squinted at the large letters written on it, as if attempting to read what it said. When Izumo got a better look at the stranger he immediately noticed that her cheeks looked slightly rosy while the rest of her skin looked either blue or almost greyish in colour. And there was no mistaking the slightly glassy look in her eyes.

'Fuck,' Kotetsu swore. 'She's sick.'

The woman twitched and for the first time seamed to notice that she wasn't alone. Izumo and Kotetsu both turned slightly pink. Gate duty wasn't _just_ guarding the gate, it also contained the job of greeting the fellow shinobi that came back from missions and being the first impression for the visitors that came to the city every day. They didn't want to insult some unknown guest – the last thing they needed was some pissed-off Lord who demanded retribution because his daughter or wife had gotten a rude greeting entering the village. Besides they always tried to be extra nice to women – if it was the influence of their mothers or because they grew up in what was sometimes referred as "the Anko-generation", no-one really knew.

'Ah, good morn- day!' Kotetsu said in an almost overly-friendly way, trying to make up for their lack of manners earlier. 'Welcome to Konohagakure! Forgive or rudeness, will this be your first visit to Konoha? May I ask what business brings you here? Perhaps we could help you – to make up for or lack of manners…'

Although their behaviour wasn't that unusual from a shinobi point of view, in "normal life" it was most unwelcome and generally referred as "shinobi-syndrome". It usually happened when a person had worked too much, usually on Jounin level or higher, and couldn't start functioning normally again. They saw and regarded normal life as a mission, the brain was in other words working as if the shinobi was threatened, only seeing where you could easiest take down people you met, all and any environment was only viewed as a battleground and all things that could work in favour or against you was calmly registered in your mind. Life around you had turned in to little more than a game – where you, and all those around you, were little more than game-pieces that was to move strategically and get taken out if it were a threat. Life and emotions more or less disappeared and lost its meaning. It was something all, or at least most, shinobi were well aware of - although civilians tended to be slightly less understanding about it. Kotetsu prayed to whatever Gods that were listening that the girl hadn't heard the way they had been talking about her earlier. The woman blinked and swayed dangerously.

'Ko-no…ha?'

Kotetsu stopped dead in his tracks, he'd just gone around the greeting table and was about to approach the woman since she looked like she was about to faint. He gave the woman a surprised look, she spoken the word like she barely heard of it before and not only that, she had a funny way of pronouncing the words. _She must be a foreigner_, Kotetsu thought, throwing a look over his shoulder at Izumo who were right behind him. Izumo just raised an eyebrow that seamed to say; _Hey, don't look at me, I don't know anymore than you do._

'Hai, you're in Konoha, er… Do you understand what I'm saying?' Kotetsu said slowly. It almost sounded like he was speaking to someone retarded, but it couldn't be helped, and he'd almost subconsciously raised his guard again.

'Konoha,' the girl murmured, she gave Kotetsu a weary look and shook her head slowly. 'Gomen, _jag förstår inte vad du säger__…(I don't understand what you're saying)_'

Kotetsu blinked. 'Well I, uh, guess that answer my question?'

Izumo was just about to say something when the woman started to speak again.

'G-gomen, om– omae?' she sounded unsure and she pointed at Kotetsu, Kotetsu only blinked in surprise. 'O-omae?' she pointed to herself, looking confused and unsure about what she was doing. She didn't seem to have the basest knowledge of the language. 'Gomen, omae –' once again she pointed towards Kotetsu '- Cookieshi?'

Kotetsu looked like he'd just been hit by lightning. His mind promptly short-circuited and stopped all activity beyond the basic shouting of _What. The. __**Fuck?!**_

'Iie?' the woman asked, looking every bit like a kicked puppy. 'G-gomen… Omae nani Cookieshi?'

'Ko-ki-chi?' Kotetsu tried to repeat the weird word; he had no idea what she meant.

'Cookieshi?' She grabbed her head, in pain or distress – or maybe both. '_Argh! I don't know!_ Cookieshi! Cookieshi-san!'

She sounded desperate, but that wasn't what caught Kotetsu's attention. 'San? Wait – that's a person? She's _looking_ for someone?'

'Seems like it.' Izumo murmured, not taking his eye of the strange woman.

In the meantime the woman had dejectedly sunk down on the ground. Apparently, finding whoever it was that she was asking for had been the only thing that drove her forward. Izumo and Kotetsu stood there a moment, looking at each other in a _now-what?_-manner.

'Ohayo, Izumo-kun, Kotetsu-kun! Or should it be good day?'

Both Chuunin immediately snapped to attention and faced the newcomer. They were greeted by the smiling, slightly embarrassed face of a fellow Chuunin they knew well.

'I'm sorry, did I startle you?' Iruka scratched his scar like he always did when he felt slightly awkward. 'Although… I must say, it's a fine job you are doing of guarding the gate – what if I was a fiend of the village? I could just have waltzed in and you'd never been the wiser.'

Izumo grinned towards the academy teacher. Kotetsu snorted and put a friendly arm on Izumos' shoulder so that he could lean slightly on to his friend. 'Iruka, 15 years ago you were a fiend of the village.'

Iruka laughed and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. 'Yes, well, don't let my students know that, ok? I'd never be allowed to live that down – and neither would you.' He added with a mischievous grin.

'Hey, don't hurt us!' Kotetsu said, both he and Izumo raised their hands in a fake surrender. 'We're not stupid – all these people who thinks that you've changed… We still know that underneath that smiling, friendly, slightly awkward face hides the same little devil we grew up with.'

'Yeah, hell Iruka,' Izumo said with a bit of a nostalgic grin. 'During your havoc years you could even shake ANBU of your tail.'

'Man, I bet you can still give them a run for their money. I even heard rumors that you managed to pull something on the 3rd once.' Kotetsu said mischievously.

Iruka was blushing and laughed awkwardly. 'Ah-ha-ha, birds of a feather, I'm afraid.'

'Bullshit,' Izumo said with a crocked smile. 'We all know we could go Jounin if we only wanted, but when the work has been done, and the whining stops, we just realize that we're pretty darn happy right were we are.'

Iruka laughed. 'That's true, I suppose.'

'What do you mean; "suppose"?' Kotetsu asked raising an eyebrow.

Iruka's smile grew softer, wider and warmer. 'God, I miss you sometimes. You're always away somewhere – guarding, hunting, or whatever it is you get to do all day long. I hardly ever see you in the mission room… and it's not like either of you have kids at the academy – and don't you _dare_ reproduce.' Iruka mock-growled and playfully shock his fist in the two laughing shinobi's faces.

'Ah, I have yet to find someone I want to settle down with.' A grinning Kotetsu said as soon as he'd calmed down enough to speak.

'Don't you mean it the other way around?' Izumo said with a smirk.

Kotetsu shot him a sour look. 'Way to go and hurt another guys' feelings.'

Izumo didn't say anything; he just flashed a disarming grin towards his friend.

'By the way, Iruka, any luck getting a girl?'

Iruka turned slightly pink. 'Ah – well I'm afraid I'm inexcusably married to my job.'

'Oh?' Kotetsu mock-asked. 'Which one?'

'Yeah, man,' Izumo laughed. 'What's up whit all the extra work? Damn, Godaime's cold, it's not enough you work all day at the academy and all evening at the mission room – she's sending you out on actual missions now too?'

'Hey!' Iruka objected. 'It's not like I never go on missions! I'm a ninja of this village too - besides, I asked to do this mission myself.'

'Figures,' Izumo said with a fond smile. 'You always were a work-a-holic busy-bee.'

'Am not!' Iruka objected, turning bright red.

'Yes you are!' Kotetsu said gleefully. 'And you're making all the rest of us look bad, too!'

Iruka fumed silently, although he couldn't keep the smile completely of his face, and glared at his two friends. 'It was simply a mission of going to the next town! Hardly worth a D-rank - a civilian could have done it! The only skills needed for it was to be able to walk and talk with people! I hardly consider it work, the slight change of scenery was only nice.'

'Yeah, you're good with people.' Kotetsu said slowly, suddenly looking at the teacher like he'd never seen him before. 'Mind helping us out a bit?'

Iruka blinked in surprise over the sudden change in his friend. 'If I can, sure, what is it?'

Kotetsu didn't reply just shot a look over his shoulder. Iruka stretched a bit, trying to spot whatever it was that they wanted help with.

'Oh!' Iruka was taken by surprise the sight of a person lying crumpled on the ground behind his friends. 'God's, I didn't see her! She's been there the whole time?!'

'Yeah,' Kotetsu said. 'But I bet you can't _sense_ her either.'

Iruka gave his friend a confused look. 'What the hell are you on about? She might need urgent medical attention right now!'

'What we're trying to say is that this girl - she got no chakra, _at all_.'

Iruka who had hunched down to check on the girl froze with one hand on her trembling shoulder. Izumo and Kotetsu didn't see what Iruka's face looked like but they could guess. The silence stretched on.

'That's not possible.' Iruka finely said in a small voice. 'Who - how…?'

'That's what we'd like to know.' Izumo said.

'Yeah,' Kotetsu continued. 'The thing is, she's a _foreigner_.'

Iruka shot them a questioning glance.

'She doesn't seem to know even the basics of speech.' Izumo explained. 'All we know is that she came through the woods and that she appears to be looking for someone, and…' Izumo hesitated a bit. 'Look - this may just be stupid, but when she first appeared, she made me very uneasy. I even thought she was some sort of Genjutsu, but Kotetsu was completely unruffled by her – she really don't appear anything other than a non-threatening civilian. But I still can't completely shake this unease away, I mean, you'd think she was an S-class criminal and not some run-down girl! Like I said before – this could be stupid – but whether she's a threat or not, something about her just seems… _off_.'

Kotetsu glanced at Izumo looking introspective but he kept silent and let his teammate talk.

'It's not like we can just leave her somewhere if she happened to actually be a threat, and I'm pretty sure or heads would roll if we left an innocent person to be interrogated. Not to mention the little fact that she don't appear to know the language, in which case she _can't_ be interrogated. And all the political difficulties this could cause... Like Kotetsu said, you're good with people, if she's with you she's safe and if she would turn out to be an enemy she's held away from any useful information she could take – I mean, what she gonna do, steal your lesson plans?' Iruka snorted – clearly not amused. 'Besides, your people skills are really good, both at making people feel at ease and reading them, and you can take care of yourself if something was to happen.'

'Of course...' Iruka said. 'How long do you want me to look after her?'

'That's another thing – we don't really know yet.' Kotetsu sighed. 'Any time after two o'clock come sunset… But we'll try and get to talk to Godaime as soon as possible, hopefully you'll hear from us before it gets dark and we'll work it from there.'

'That's okay,' Iruka said with a friendly smile that quickly turned in to concern once he turned his full attention back to the girl on the ground. 'Although… if she _is_ here on ill intent I doubt she'll be able to cause us any harm in this state, right now, anyway. Still, I'll take care of her as much as I can - maybe she won't have to go to the hospital, God knows they're overcrowded as it is.'

'Thanks, we owe you one.' Kotetsu said whit a relieved smile.

'Yeah, yeah,' Iruka said dismissing the matter. 'Just by me a drink when all this is over or something.'

'We'll by you a bar.' Izumo put in with a grin. 'You're a life saver.'

Iruka laughed softly and crouched down on the ground so he could get a better look at the girl. She appeared to be almost… asleep. Dazed. He carefully got her up in to something similar to a sitting position – and kept her that way with the help of his left hand that was carefully grasping her right shoulder. Her eyes were half-closed and looked cloudy; he didn't see any sign of presence in them.

'I'm sorry, miss? Can you hear me?' Iruka studied her face closely, looking for signs that she was in any way aware of the out side world. Iruka had just resigned himself to be forced to take her to the hospital anyway when something happen; something in her eyes changed. Iruka had a split-second feeling of floating mid-space and there were a quick sensation of déjà vu and then it went away. Iruka shrugged it of, but he couldn't quite shake the feeling that he'd somehow ended up taking on more than he'd bargained for.

Iruka fond himself looking into a pair of vide, startled eyes. There wasn't anything remarkable about her eyes, they weren't even in a pretty color or anything – they had a somewhat plain blue/gray color that made you associate with the aftermath of a storm. Still, there were something about them; Iruka just couldn't say what yet. Iruka leaned forward so that their faces came almost close enough to touch. His movement seamed to snap whatever spell she was under, because her eyes became wider still and she flinched slightly. Blushing deeply she quickly averted her eyes and mumbled something that sounded like "gomen-nasai" towards her right foot.

Iruka blinked a bit in surprise. If his eyes weren't mistaken, the woman's eyes had some yellow in them – although it was really hard to see unless you were really close. It intrigued him, most unusual eye-colors walked hand-in-hand with blodlimits – but with this girl that couldn't be the case… Maybe it could be some sort of clue of where she was from…? Trying his best to analyze the information he had on her, which would be next to non-existing, Iruka tried to work out how to best deal with the girl.

It wasn't rare to have little info in the missions of a capable shinobi, still, Iruka preferred when he felt like he knew what he was dealing with. And at the moment he didn't know where she was from, why she was here or what she wanted – although Kotetsu and Izumo _had_ said something about her looking for someone… Could she be dangerous? Iruka didn't really pick up on any ill-intensions, but then again, that didn't necessarily mean anything.

While Iruka sat estimating the stranger, the girl appeared to pull herself together. Fidgeting slightly the girl hesitantly asked Iruka; 'Gomen – O-omae Cookie-shi?'

Iruka blinked, taken aback by the girls odd speech. He sent a quick glance towards his old friends – they'd returned to their post by the gate – but the only answer he got was a raised eyebrow. Sighing slightly in defeat, Iruka started to have an inkling about what a pain this was going to be. Izumo and Kotetsu were sending him hesitant looks every now and then and Izumo even mouthed "_You OK?_" which Iruka waved his hand dismissingly at.

"Hai, hai," Iruka said in a slightly resigned tone of voice. "We're leaving. I better take her to my apartment and se if I can get her back together."

And with that he helped the girl up on her feet.

-------

This chapter is soooo long, I'm making it 2 chapters in one… I just COULD NOT post a chapter without even introducing Iruka. And try being nice to Kotetsu and Izumo, I like them, I really do, the reason they are behaving like idiots are because they're over-worked. They've spent all night working the nightshift at the prison and when their shift ended, instead of being allowed to go home and sleep, they got to go and guard the gate. Surprise! 15 hours workday:D (and it's not over yet…) It will become clearer in a couple of chapters from here, just thought I'd let you know in advance.

Lol, I've probably read – and re-read – this chapter a 100 times ( - not funny). So I hope it's good now… -.-'

Some Jap/Eng explanations;

Hai – yes

Gomen – sorry

Omae – you (male)

Iie – no

Nani? – what?

-san -- Mr. / Miss / Mrs.

Ohayo (or "ohayou") – good morning

Gomennasai – sorry

My Japanese reference is from browsing around on the net, mostly from this page though - http // Japanese . about . com /


	3. The Art of Picking Up Strays

Chapter 3

_The Art of Picking Up Strays_

**PRE-WORDS/RANT:**

It's another long-ass chapter. XP Hopefully it'll be the crappiest chapter in the story…

That sounded weird. P: What I mean is that I hope the rest of this story (chapters) won't end up worse than this one. It was such a pain! D: and it kinda suck… I might re-do it sometime…

…Oh, well, it's a lot better than it could have been if I hadn't changed around, erased and re-written it a thousand times (- I'm not even exaggerating as much as I'd like to D: ). There were some things I had to put in it… and then I added that conversation between Iruka and Teuchi to try and make it more fun to read.

…of course that just made it longer. D: Un-betaed. /

**Naruto-manga-rant might contain slight spoilers for up to chapter 420**

I was so happy over chapter 405! Go, Iruka! You're awesome! ILU!

407 made me giddy as hell! Yes, Kakashi, read porn to the kids!! XD

OMFG chapter 420!! My inner KakaIru-fangirl went to heaven!:33333

**START OF STORY:**

...

_I am confused, as though why I am here_

_But even though my mind has forgotten_

_I am sure, the heart will always remember_

...

The girl was following Iruka like some sort of lost puppy; wary of being too close to him, yet obviously too scared at the thought of being alone to leave him. Not that Iruka minded, as long as she stayed within sight.

However it didn't stop Iruka from kept a watchful eye on the foreign girl. Not because he thought her to be a threat, but rather because she looked as if she would drop dead at any given moment. When the girl suddenly stumbled, Iruka quickly grabbed her and kept her upright before she landed on her face. Awkwardly she mumble an apology.

Iruka was sure that if she'd had a tail it would be between her legs. Iruka sighed, she had to be even _worse_ than Hinata-san had been when he first began teaching her. And to think he'd never thought that to be possible… Iruka shook his head at the thought.

He was almost happy that the streets were as empty as they were. They were attracting enough curious looks from the few people they've passed by, luckily everyone had been too busy, or polite, to stop and talk to them so far. Iruka just hoped it would stay that way until they reached his apartment. But judging by the state the girl was in Iruka wasn't sure she'd make it past the half-way point.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when the girl started swaying dangerously in the middle of the street. She looked like she was about to faint. Or like the door to Heaven just materialized themselves in front of her. Iruka breathed in the scent of ramen that was traveling with the wind from the Ichiraku that was located further down the road. _I see…_

´You're really hungry, aren't you?´ He asked softly.

His words seemed to break whatever spell she'd been under and flicked her un-focused gaze towards Iruka. Despite bad tremors she lifted her arm, cupping her hand carefully over her ear as though she wanted to protect it. ´Nani?´

Iruka studied the girl closely. It was, after all, the first time she attempted to communicate since he picked her up. ´I know, you don't understand… Only certain words, right? Don't worry, we'll get what's important across…' Iruka thought about those million-or-so questions concerning her. ´…Hopefully.´

If the girl wasn't dead tired, Iruka could tell that she probably would have fretted. As it was she seemed too tired to do anything other than let her arm flop down and let Iruka keep talking soft "rubbish" in the calming tone of voice that he was currently using. Iruka could tell that the girl was probably falling asleep on her feet even as he spoke, but he supposed that was OK; he just had an interesting idea after all.

´My mother used to tell me never to feed strays…´ Iruka smiled slightly. ´Wait here.´

Iruka quickly disappeared down the street towards the ramen-stand. The stand was currently empty, seeing that breakfast was over and the lunch-rush wouldn't start until at least another hour or so. At the moment it was just perfect for what Iruka had in mind. Slipping underneath the curtain Iruka smiled in greeting.

´Hello.´

The owner looked up and greeted Iruka. ´Iruka-san! You seem to be doing well. What can we do for you?´

´Well… The thing is, Teuchi-san, I wanted to ask you a small favor…´ Iruka said while scratching his head awkwardly.

Teuchi laughed. ´You've been a good customer here for… how many years now? We'd be honored to assist you in any way we can.´

Iruka blushed and tried not to scratch his nose, which was a bad habit of his when he felt awkward about something. ´Aa, that's… good. I think.´ he said.

´I've gotten a bit of a burden on my hands from one of my friends…´ Iruka told Teuchi, being as vague as possible on purpose. ´I'm supposed to watch over and take care of it, but it's in some seriously bad shape, I was wondering if you could make something …nice… and agreeable to eat. It would really help if we could sit down and recuperate some before we continue the trip to my apartment where I can focus on tending to the wounds instead of start cooking food or something like that.´

´Of course.´ Teuchi said. ´It's no problem… I might have just the thing for her.´

´Eh?´

Teuchi nodded his head in the direction of the corner. ´That's her, isn't it?´

Looking over his shoulder Iruka saw the woman fidgeting outside of the stand. ´I guess that means you don't know what "wait" means.´ Iruka said with a small sigh.

Teuchi gave Iruka an inquisitive look.

´Ah, she's a foreigner…´ Iruka explained. ´She don't appear to understand or language at all – with the exception of a couple of words or so. Anyway, we don't know that much about her so I want to ask you not to talk about her to anyone until the Hokage has decided what to do…´

´A lot of or customers we have are shinobi, so don't worry.´ Teuchi mused. ´We only sell ramen - not gossip.´

´Thank you.´ Iruka said with a grateful smile.

´Think nothing of it.´ Teuchi said and started to work. ´I'll have something good up in no-time. Do you want something too?´

´Oh,´ Iruka said. ´Well I've already eaten not so long ago… But´ Iruka blushed and added with a grin ´I suppose I could take something light, too…´

´Is that so?´ Teuchi chuckled.

´Yeah, it's hard to just sit here,´ Iruka said fondly. ´And NOT eat. Why do you think I invite Naruto to ramen so often? Any reason to come here is a good one. Beside, my mother once told me that the best way to serve a good meal is with good company.´

´Your mother was a wise woman.´ Teuchi nodded to himself. ´Speaking of Naruto, is he still off on that mission? Been a while since I saw him.´

´Aa,´ Iruka said. ´Unless something goes seriously wrong he should be back in a week or two. In fact, when he does you're probably one of the first who'll find out.´ he chuckled.

´He's a got his heart in the right spot,´ Teuchi said.

´That he does.´ Iruka agreed with a fond smile as he thought of his old charge.

´And he's a goldmine for business.´

Iruka laughed. He wasn't going to argue with that, it was widely know inside the village that the first places to look for Naruto was around the training fields or at Ichiraku's. And Iruka had treated Naruto to enough ramen to know that it could quickly rise to really large sums of money when the boy ate.

´Makes you wonder if he's somehow related to the Akimichi-clan sometimes…´ Iruka joked.

Teuchi laughed and placed two bowls on the counter. ´There you go. One special ramen for her and one small portion for you, enjoy your meal!´

´Thank you,´ Iruka said with a smile. Then he focused his concentration on the girl who _still_ stood outside the shop, fidgeting uncertainly. ´Now comes the tricky part.´ He mumbled to himself.

´Well,´ Iruka said gently to the girl. ´Come, don't be afraid. You're hungry, right? I won't harm you. Come, sit down, rest a bit, eat some. You'll feel better if you do, trust me.´

Iruka was trying to appear as nice and friendly as he possibly could. He was laying it on thick, but at the state the girl was in he doubted she would pick up on half of it. He just hoped no-one he knew would show up unexpectedly. Iruka could name at least ten people who wouldn't let him live it down, and five of them probably would make sure to carve it down on his grave, if they ever caught him talking like he was at the moment. It almost sounded like he was trying to coo a scared kitten out from underneath a closet or something like that. He already got enough crap thrown at him in work and the last thing he needed was for people to throw more jabs at him.

The woman fidgeted. It smelled sooo good… and she was really tired and cold. Not to mention so hungry she could barely stand it. But she was also very aware about the fact that she was lost, she had no means to communicate, no money, and she probably looked like something the cat had dragged in and abandoned and smelled twice as bad… Surely they couldn't want her near? She cringed at the thought.

Iruka kept talking to her while he watched as she battled with herself. After a couple of minutes she hesitantly reached up and brushed away the drapery looking cloth that was hanging outside of the stand and peered uncertainly at Iruka.

´Yes. That's right. Good, good… Come here, no need to worry…´ Iruka said and reached out and patted one of the chairs encouragingly. ´You're doing really good.´

The woman listened to Iruka's encouraging voice and hesitantly moved into the ramen-stand and practically crawled up on the chair by the disk. Once she was seated and had managed to get her feet of the ground it was like the woman lost all energy she had left and became completely de-flatted.

Her face hit the desk in front of her with a dull "thump".

´Ah?´ Iruka jumped slightly. _Oh shit! Did she die?!_

But before Iruka could panic (too much, anyway), and almost as to prove him wrong, the woman jerked herself upright. Luckily for her, Iruka's reflexes were fast enough to steady her when she came upright again, if he hadn't she surely would have ended up falling off the chair.

´E-easy.´ Iruka said studying the girl closely.

It was quite obvious that she was running on an empty engine, he wasn't sure how much longer she would hold out. Iruka was battling with himself on the inside over what the best course of action would be. On the one hand there was the protocol that more or less stated that all things _unknown_ was to be treated as S-class mission until you got any orders not to, on the other hand was the fact that the girl was in some serious bad shape and probably should get checked-up by a medic.

But if he actually brought her to the hospital, so many more people would know about her, and that would seriously complicate things if the Hokage decided to keep her presence – if not her very existence – hidden and unknown about. Due to staff-demands, not everybody in the hospital were educated shinobi, these days there were quite a lot of civilians too. If it reached the wrong ears, Iruka didn't doubt it would spread like wildfire. And you didn't have to be a genius to know that it would be _disastrous_.

So far only 4 people had been in any kind of serious contact with her, and only Iruka himself, Kotetsu and Izumo knew she lacked chakra. And Iruka had no doubt that it would be best to stay that way until Gondaime had decided what to do about her. Besides, the thing she needed most right now was rest, and it would be far better for her to rest in his apartment than in an over-worked, over-crowded hospital…

Right, better to take her home and wait for Gondaime. Iruka made up his mind and reached out and took a pair of chopsticks and started to eat. He stopped mid-bite as he had glanced at the girl and come to realize that she'd made no move towards her food.

Iruka blinked. ´What's wrong?´

The girl twitched when Iruka spoke to her. Flickering her gaze to Iruka and then turning it back to the steaming bowl in front of her. Iruka frowned, he knew the girl had to be starving; she was practically salivating all over her bowl of ramen. So why wouldn't she eat it?

´Is it the money? Don't worry, it's yours.´ Iruka tried to assure her and gestured between herself and the bowl in front of her. The girl hesitantly started to reach out for the bowl.

´Yes, that's it,´ Iruka said, trying to sound as approving as possible. ´Eat-up, it's all yours.´

She managed to grab on to the bowl and put it in her lap without pouring its content out all over herself, and considering how much her hands shook Iruka figured it was nothing short of a miracle. She sat like that, keeping the bowl close and with a blissful look on her face as she tried to absorb the warmth in to her body.

Iruka watched the girl with a small smile on his face. He pretty much knew how she was feeling; he'd had some shitty missions in his days…

´Oh, right!´ he said, ´Here.´ and handed her a pair of chopsticks.

It had never crossed Irukas mind that the stranger might not know how to use chopsticks, but when the woman accepted the chopsticks and proceeded with simply sitting there giving them a blank look, Iruka felt like slamming his head against a brick wall.

Hard.

And repeatedly.

It was starting to dawn to him what an immense problem he'd taken on to his own hands. He'd thought that she "couldn't talk" to them when he _should_ have thought "couldn't communicate", which was an entirely different thing! But before Iruka had paniced _too_ much, the woman had managed to break apart her chopsticks from each other and started to try and get them right in her hand.

It was crystal clear to anyone watching that the woman didn't really know how to use chopsticks, but it was also obvious that _someone_ had shown her before how you should hold them, and Iruka felt like he could kiss who ever that person was at the moment for saving him the trouble of trying to figure out a way to teach her that _now_.

Once she gotten them in a somewhat correct hold she looked at Iruka questionably.

´Ah? Oh! Right! Good, that's good, you're good – I mean, it's yours – eat up.´ Iruka floundered, taken slightly off guard after being lost in thought.

Iruka was worried, it didn't look like she had any better grasp on their culture than she had on the language. Just from how far away could she _be_? Iruka knew that outside of the shinobi-nations the language changed, but it still shared _some_ similarities, but the woman's language was un-like anything he'd ever heard and her pronunciation was way off. And if she were to come from any of the near-by countries – or the Locked Nation – it didn't fit with her lack of knowledge over the most trivial tings...

Iruka glanced at the woman to see how she was fairing just in time to see how she more or less finished her ramen in one swallow.

´Well, damn,´ Iruka said, blinking in surprise. ´I think she just broke Naruto's record.´

Teuchi chuckled as he was busying himself with polishing the board at the other end at the Ramen stand and over-heard what Iruka had said. But Iruka didn't have time to chat seeing as the girl was trembling worse than ever and practically crumbling before his eyes. Finishing his own bowl in two bites Iruka slapped some money on the disk (although it was horribly rude) before he rushed to the girl's aide.

´Thanks a lot! Keep the change!´ he said hurriedly as he tried to keep the girl on her feet and steered her towards his flat.

The rest of the trip home to Iruka's apartment was pretty much eventless, all things considered. But then again, they didn't run into anyone and the woman was practically asleep – well Iruka was sure she would have been, if he hadn't kept her up-right and tugged her along. He couldn't even tell if he being allowed near her was a good thing or not with the state she was in. Oh well, he could only take care of her and hope for the best.

Once they reached their destination, Iruka (after a couple of fruitless attempts) decided that, ninja or not, he wasn't going to get in to his home anytime soon if he couldn't use his hands. Luckily, the girl seemed to have gained a little strength and could handle standing on her own, at least as long as she had the wall to lean on.

Once Iruka regained the use of both his hands he got the door open in a flash. Slipping out of his shoes he stretched and said; ´Oh, God, it's good to be back.´

Turning around he looked straight at the girl leaning on his doorstep.

´Right.´ Iruka said, biting back a sigh.

Reaching out to help her get in Iruka stopped his hand as the woman grew tense.

´Yeah, alright, so dragging you in to my apartment against your will isn't the best way to start things out.´ Iruka said. ´You want to get in by yourself?´

Nothing.

´Please, step inside.´ Iruka said with an exaggerated "welcome in" gesture.

The woman looked at Iruka for a little while and then looked down at her feet.

´Please, step _inside_.´ He tried again, and this time even clearer with his body language, if it was possible.

The only thing that happened was that she looked up for a short moment and then looked back down on to the floor. Iruka frowned. He was sure she understood what he meant, but he didn't understand her.

Iruka looked down at her feet; he knew she had to be _dying_ to get of off them. They were badly abused with numerous cuts and wounds that were still bleeding slightly and dirty as hell. Iruka groaned.

´_Please_ tell me that you're not _that_ polite, even I wouldn't give a damn if I was in your condition.´ Iruka wanted to hide his face in his hands.

Grabbing a paper Iruka scattered it on the floor, making a path from the door to his couch. And _finely_ the girl stumbled inside. Carefully Iruka grasped her left arm and guided her to his couch, and he could have face-palmed when she didn't move to sit or lie down on it.

´It's _old_.´ he grumbled to himself as he rushed in to his bed room, grabbed an old bed-spread that'd belonged to his parents once upon a time and threw it over the couch. Apparently that was good enough for the girl who chose that moment to faint.

´See, this is what I was hoping we could avoid.´ Iruka sighed as he lifted her up on the couch properly.

Fighting down a blush, he added; ´You're not wearing anything else underneath that, are you?´

Deciding he definitely didn't want to know that for sure, Iruka put her down on the couch and made sure that her robe was on properly before sitting back. Looking at her sleeping face Iruka brushed her hair away from her face.

´Your cheek is swollen, I didn't notice.´ He murmured absently and caressed her right cheek softly. ´Looks like you have a nasty bruise underneath that dirt too.´

Iruka sat up straighter and with a last look at the sleeping woman he got up and went in to the kitchen and got a bowl with water.

´I'm just going to wash the worst of the dirt from your face and treat your hands and feet so you don't get any nasty infections.´ Iruka told the unconscious girl as he put the bowl on the floor next to her. ´Although I must say that you have quite the timing,´ Iruka continued talking to himself as he went in to his bathroom and grabbed a couple of clean towels and his first aid-kit. ´I was just thinking that I should replace some of these things before they went bad.´

´Some people think I'm stupid to keep all of these things in stock, especially when some of these things are only good for a couple of months and then need to be replaced.´ Iruka continued on as he took up an ornament for wounds. ´It costs a bit but I don't really care. It's better to have it at home when you really need it than if you don't have it and need it.´

´You're lucky, though, I don't know many "desk-ninja" who bother to keep a complete med-kit at home. Hell, I know a few _Jounin_ who don't bother about it! They just carry around the standard equipment and is satisfied with that.´ Iruka said as he gathered up all the things he'd need. ´It probably has something to do with growing up alone, you know.´

´… Or maybe you don't.´ Iruka felt a lump in his throat as he stood in front of the sleeping woman on his couch.

It took almost four hours, but Iruka was nothing if not stubborn, and he took the task of taking care of her seriously. Having finely removed all the thorns, splinters and minor rocks from the girl's feet, he was kind-of glad that she had stayed unconscious through it all. Once Iruka finished wrapping-up her feet he got up and stretched before putting away the things he'd used to treat his "guest".

When he was done he ended up standing in front of his couch, just looking at the sleeping girl. Crouching down next to her Iruka carefully tried to move some of her hair out of her face but ended up having his fingers tangled in the mess instead.

'That's going to be a pain to wake-up to in the morning.' The Chuunin sighed and glanced at the clock.

Getting up Iruka went out to his kitchen to put on some tea. When he came back he brought with him a comb and a chair. Sitting down Iruka started to try and untangle her hair, or at least get the twigs in it out. It turned out to be a task even worse than treating her hands and feet had been. At least it didn't take as long time, something Iruka was very thankful for. It still felt like forever, though, and Iruka wasn't sure he'd done her a favor or not afterwards. The twigs were gone, at any rate, and Iruka figured he'd have to be happy with that.

Iruka frowned and looked out the window. 'What is keeping Ko and Iz? It's going to get dark soon. Oh, well,' he said and stretched. 'They'll show when they show.'

'And you're still out like a light.' Iruka sighed to the woman. 'I guess I'll correct those test-papers, I was saving them for tomorrow, but I might as well work on them while I wait.'

It had been a long day for Iruka, and it didn't look like the evening would go any faster.

* * *

Jap/Eng/-explanations

nani – what

"it" – Japanese have words for a person that's devoid of mentions of the persons sex (ex. he/she). I was thinking that to stay as vague as possible, Iruka used it while he spoke to Teuchi. I used the word "it", but it sounds rude and that's not how I wanted it to appear…

"couldn't speak/couldn't communicate" – I'm not sure if I get what I want across here. But if you think about thinks actual talking isn't the only way to communicate. Although body-language isn't used as much between people like between animals, it exist. In Iruka's case it's more of a realization, he realized that the language wasn't the only barrier between them, there was also one in the sense of culture. So he can't take her understanding of the most basic things for granted.

Ko and Iz – Iruka used shortening of Kotetsu's and Izumo's names like "pet-names" for his friends. Although in Japanese the names would be written Ko-te-tsu and I-zu-mo, so I think Izumo's pet-name should be Izu in that case. But I thought it sounded retarded as far as pet-names go so I decided to go with Iz.


End file.
